2010, Barcelona. That was the first time we heard of a band called ¡Pelea!
¡Pelea! which means “Fight!” was formed by Ignacio “El Ortiga” Estrada-Nora on drums and vocals, Txuso Fernández on bass and vocals, Marçal Forés on guitar and vocals, Xabel Ferreiro on guitar and vocals and Olatz Azcona on vocals and harmonica.
I am not sure when did they form. Was it that 2010? What we do now is that in that year they released a self-titled tape EP, a co-release by the labels the excellent Discos Walden (DW04) founded by Manu Moreno in Madrid and Comissio de Festes Menors.
The songs on the “¡Pelea!” cassette were recorded in February of 2010, in Barcelona, with the help of Jordi González (from Corte Moderno, Cotolengo, Kou Keri Kou, Los Tesoros, Germán Carrascosa y la Alegría del Barrio, Kana Kapoila, Brainf•ck, J.G.G.) and Pablo Garrido Zújar, also known as Pablo Kapila as he had been in the band Kana Kapila (he was also part of Germán Carrascosa y la Alegría del Barrio and the superb Pacífico). Them two were also the producers.
The songs on this tape were “¡Pelea!”, “El Trabajo”, “Bombona y Farola” on the A side and “Disfraz de Cerdo”, “La Chica Más Guapa de Reus” and “Insoportable” on the B side. The tracks were recorded at the band’s rehearsal space in February of 2010.
Have the members of ¡Pelea! been in other bands? Asking as I’ve listed all the bands the producers were in…. well they have. Txuso was part of Son Bou. El Ortiga was in Corte Moderno, Cotolengo, Anticonceptivas, Germán Carrascosa y la Alegría del Barrio and also in Guay! Marçal was in Foés y Ferreiro but he is also known as a film director, especially thanks to the movies “Through My Window” and “Everlasting Love”. Xabel was on Kana Kapila, Corte Moderno, Germán Carrascosa y la Alegría del Barrio and Kou Keri Kou. Olatz was in Kou Keri Kou and Germán Carrascosa y la Alegría del Barrio. Right, a lot of the same bands. Clearly they’ve continued to being friends.
The song “Insportable” would be included in a CDR compilation called “Autoplacer” in 2010. It came with the Autoplacer fanzine.
2010 also sees the release of a split 7″ with the band Thelemáticos. ¡Pelea! contrributes two songs to the A side, “Bombona y Farola” and “El Trabajo”. Thelemáticos are on the B side with the song “El Hielo del Sur”. The release was put out by La Fonográfica General (LFG.45.0017). The songs were produced by Sergio Pérez García (who had been in tons of bands including Anticonceptivas, Thelemáticos, Pagasvs, Svper, Applied Asturias, and more. This was recorded at Maik Maier studios in Barcelona.
Cofradía de la Pirueta (CP 002), Gramaciones Grabofónicas (GRGR 014), Maravillosos Ruidos – Blizing Noize Records (BZNZ 009), three labels, would put together a self-titled ¡Pelea! 7″ EP in 2010. Four songs on this fine record, “¡Pelea!” and “En Madrid” on the A side and “El Americano” and “Dime Con Quién” on the B side. Again, recorded at Maik Maier.
The band then releases their album “¡Qué Éxito! / ¡Qué Felicidad!” in 2011. It is a co-release between Canada (CND005) and Gramaciones Grabofónicas (GRGR16). It is released as a vinyl only LP and includes 12 songs. “¡Qué Éxito!”, “Mi Disfraz de Cerdo”, “La Chica Más Guapa de Reus”, “Tirando Bombas sin Parar de Bailar”, “El Click-Clack” and “Insportable” on the A side and “¡Qué Felicidad!”, “Voy a Pudrirme en el Infierno”, “Lo Único que Quiero Ser en esta Vida es ser un Mono”, “El Mundo de las Ideas”, “La Cueva” and “¡Baila Con Pelea!” on the B side. The producer was, once again, Sergio Pérez García.
This record was recorded between the 6 and the 8th of March of 2011 at Maik Maier studios in Barcelona. It was mastered by Yves Roussel.
“Bombona y Farola” would also make an appearance on the soundtrack of the movie “Animals”. This soundtrack was released on vinyl (both black and yellow vinyl versions) in 2012 by Discos Walden (DW15), Gramaciones Grabofónicas (GRGR21), Maravillosos Ruidos, Glitter End and Cofradía de la Pirueta (CP09). Many labels! The soundtrack included other favourite bands of mine like Los Claveles, Los Ginkas, Bananas and Los Muebles.
The band has a Bandcamp with all of their recordings. There’s another release, another song. It is called “Cuanto Más Tenga”, and was included in a digital compilation ccalled “Doropaedia 9: Coleccionismo”. This dates from 2010. The song was also recorded on April of that year in Maik Maier’s studio with Sergio García Pérez as the producer.
Their name is not very Google-friendly. Hard to track more information. But I do find a Flickr account for El Ortiga. There I find photos of the band as well as some flyers. We see that the band played the Sala Sidecar with the Thelemáticos and Diego García on April 9th of 2011 I think!
Another flyer shows that the band was going on a mini-tour with the band Arponera. And then another that mentions that the band had t-shirts for sale. Would have been nice to have one.
At Sala Apolo the band played along Hanoi Janes and Aias on June 19 of 2010. On January 30th of 2010 the band played with Los Claveles and Garrapateces at Heliogàbal.
I also find that they played in Madrid at the Sala Siroco supporting Los Claveles.
That’s what I could find out. I wonder why they stopped playing. I wonder why they didn’t release more records. Are there unreleased tracks? I know with Spanish bands is a bit trickier to get help as I’m writing this blog in English, but maybe, just maybe, someone remembers them?
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